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Four new genera and five new species of “Heterocypris” from Western Australia (Crustacea, Ostracoda, Cyprinotinae).
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Five new species in four new genera from Western Australia are described. All species have valve characters that are reminiscent of the genus Heterocypris Claus, 1892 and also have similar valve outlines, with highly arched valves. However, all species have a hemipenis morphology that is totally different from the typical form in Heterocypris. In Patcypris gen. nov. (with type species P. outback gen. et sp. nov.), the lateral lobe is large and shaped as a pickaxe, while the medial lobe is divided into two distal lobes. Trilocypris gen. nov. (with type species T. horwitzi gen. et sp. nov.) is characterised by a hemipenis that has three, instead of two, distal lobes. In Bilocypris gen. nov. (with type species B. fortescuensis gen. et sp. nov. and a second species, B. mandoraensis gen. et sp. nov.), the lateral lobe of the hemipenis is spatulate, rather than boot-shaped, and the medial lobe is bilobed. Billcypris gen. nov. (with type species B. davisae gen. et sp. nov.) has a large and sub-rectangular lateral lobe and a pointed medial lobe. We discuss the taxonomic value of the traditional and new morphological characters and speculate that the diversity of this cluster of genera and species may be greater than currently known.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Revision of the morphology, phylogenetic relationships, behaviour and diversity of the Iberian and Italian ant-like Tachydromia Meigen, 1803 (Diptera: Hybotidae)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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The Muricidae (Gastropoda: Muricoidea) from Oman with the description of four new species
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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Holcogaster fibulata (Germar, 1831) une espèce nouvelle pour la faune belge (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Pentatominae)
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RBINS collections by external author(s)
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Ctenolepisma (Ctenolepisma) lineata (Fabricius, 1775) and Thermobia domestica (Packard, 1873) new to Belgium (Zygentoma: Lepismatidae-
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RBINS collections by external author(s)
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Coléoptères saproxyliques du Bois de Mortroux: Dircaea australis (Melandryidae) et Corticens bicoloroides (Tenebrionidae); coléoptères nouveaux pour la faune belge
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RBINS collections by external author(s)
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Hydropsyche bulgaromanorum Malicky, 1977 new to Belgium (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae)
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RBINS collections by external author(s)
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The sawfly Arge dimidiata in Belgium and the Netherlands (Hymenoptera: Argidae)
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RBINS collections by external author(s)
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The upper Eocene-Oligocene carnivorous mammals from the Quercy Phosphorites (France) housed in Belgian collections
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The Quercy Phosphorites Formation in France is world famous for its Eocene to Miocene faunas, especially those from the upper Eocene to lower Oligocene, the richest of all. The latter particularly helped to understand the ‘Grande Coupure’, a dramatic faunal turnover event that occurred in Europe during the Eocene-Oligocene transition. Fossils from the Quercy Phosphorites were excavated from the middle 19th century until the early 20th century in a series of sites and became subsequently dispersed over several research institutions, while often losing the temporal and geographical information in the process. In this contribution, we provide an overview and reassess the taxonomy of these barely known collections housed in three Belgian institutions: the Université de Liège, KU Leuven, and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. We focus our efforts on the carnivorous mammals (Hyaenodonta and Carnivoramorpha) and assess the stratigraphic intervals covered by each collection. These fossils are derived from upper Eocene (Priabonian), lower Oligocene (Rupelian), and upper Oligocene (Chattian) deposits in the Quercy area. The richness of the three collections (e.g., the presence of numerous postcranial elements in the Liège collection), the presence of types and figured specimens in the Leuven collection, and some identified localities in the RBINS collection make these collections of great interest for further studies on systematics and the evolution of mammals around the ‘Grande Coupure’.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Ocean acidification modifies behaviour of shelf seabed macrofauna: A laboratory study on two ecosystem engineers, Abra alba and Lanice conchilega
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The feeding activity and burrow ventilation by benthic invertebrates importantly affect the biodiversity and functioning of seafloor sediments. Here we investigated how ocean acidification can modify these behavioural activities in two common and abundant macrofaunal ecosystem engineering species in temperate continental shelf communities: the white furrow shell Abra alba and the sand mason Lanice conchilega. Using time-lapse imagery and sediment porewater hydraulic signatures we show that both species adapt their behaviour in response to predicted future pH conditions (-0.3 units). During a three-week laboratory experiment, A. alba reduced the duration per feeding event when suspension and deposit feeding (by 86 and 53%, respectively), and almost completely ceased suspension feeding under reduced seawater pH in comparison to ambient seawater pH (pH ~ 8.2). This behavioural change reduces the intake of low pH water during feeding and respiration. L. conchilega increased its piston-pumping frequency by 30 and 52%, respectively, after one and two weeks of exposure to future pH conditions (-0.3 units) relative to ambient conditions. This change in irrigation activity suggests higher metabolic demands under low seawater pH, and also extended low water column pH conditions deeper into the seafloor. Because the distribution of other populations depends on the physicochemical setting by our focal species, we argue that the demonstrated behavioural plasticity will likely have cascading effects on seafloor diversity and functioning, highlighting the complexity of how ocean acidification, and climate change in general, will affect seafloor ecology.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023